The UN is investigating fresh allegations of sexual abuse in Central African Republic, where peacekeepers have been hit with numerous charges of sexual abuse over the past year, a UN spokesman, Farhan Haq, said on Tuesday.

Hag told reporters that “a team from the Republic of Congo arrived in the country to investigate recent allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse against their troops” but offered no details on the allegations.

Another UN official told Reuters that some of the new allegations involved minors.

Earlier this month, the UN peacekeeping mission for Central African Republic (CAR) said it had identified seven new cases of sexual abuse by its troops, including women and girls which Human Rights Watch (HRW) said were raped or gang-raped.

In December, an independent review panel accused the UN and its agencies of grossly mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse in 2013 and 2014 by international peacekeepers in CAR, describing its approach to the charges seriously flawed and a gross institutional failure.

The world body had pledged to crack down on allegations of misconduct and abuse to avoid a repeat of past mistakes.

France intervened in CAR, a former colony, over two years ago to stem violence between Christian militias and largely Muslim Seleka rebels who had seized power.

It started withdrawing some of its 2,000 troops last year, handing over to UN peacekeepers.

France is also among the countries whose troops have been accused of sexual abuse in CAR. It has been investigating the charges since last year. (Reuters/NAN)